Directional drilling apparatus



May 13, 1941. G. L. SCOTT ET A1.

DIRECTIONAL DRILLING APPARATUS Filed April 5, 1959 :iis @meu y y Il i5' .7.

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`Parenteel Mey-13, 194i 2,241,746 DIRECTIONAL DRILLDNG APPARATUS.

` George L. scott, Compton, com., and Wiley B. Noble, Houston, Tex., assignors to Reed Roller Bit Company, Houston, Tex., a corporation of Texas Application April-3, 1939, Serial N0. 265,668

13 Claims. "(Cl. 255-1) This invention relates to drillingequipment and has for its general object the provision of means whereby the direction in which a hole is being drilled may be changed and controlled as drilling proceeds.

In drilling deep wells, or the like, particularly by the rotary drilling method, it is frequently desirable to change the direction in which the drilling is proceeding. 'This may be caused either by a desire that the drilled hole be inclined. or directed in a predetermined `manner to reach a denite known goal, or by a desire to bring bak to the vertical a hole in which the drilling hasbecome deflected from the vertical.

Various means have'been employed in the past for deflecting drilling tools so as to change or control the direction of drilled holes, most of these takingthe form of so-called whipstocks or wedge-shaped blocks placed in the bottom of the well hole to deect a drilling tool in one direction or another from the original well hole. These are objectionable vfor several reasons, the principal reasons being that they cause a sharp angular change in. the direction of the well hole which is likely to cause trouble in subsequent operations, and that the amount of change by the use of a single whipstock is quite limited;

the only way additional change can be accomplished is by the use of additional whipstocks in succession.

In all previous devices and methods of changing direction of drilling ln drilled holes, there is also the disadvantage of having to withdraw-the drill stem, put in place the correcting device.

multiplying greatly the loss of timev and the expense involved.

It is an object of this invention to-provide a device which will not require. the Iuse of a whipstock or the like in the well hole.

Another object of this invention is to make possible the deflection and control of the direction of a drilled hole by the use of equipment, th'e major portion oi.' which is used in the ordinary well known method of drilling wells.

Another object of this invention is to provide a means for controlling the direction of drilled holes which will avoid the necessity of round trips of the drill stem into the hole.

Another object of this invention is to provide a means whereby a drilled hole may be deflected by either'a greater or a lesser amount in one deiiecting operation.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the laccompanying drawing wherein is set forth by way of illustration one embodiment of this invention.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal cross section through the upper end portion of a. drill collar of an I ordinary wire line coring apparatus, showing a core barrel in place therein.

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the lowerr portion of -the device illustrated in Fig. 1 and having a reamer and core barrel on the lower end vthereof.

Fig. 3 is a view illustrating one method of orienting a drill stem and core bit such as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 preparatory tochanging the direction of drilling in a drilled hole.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but illustrating a deiection drilling apparatus in place of the core barrel, the same being constructed in accordance with this invention.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig.' 2 illustrating the llower end portion of Fig. 4, together with the details of construction of the deilection drilling apparatus.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 but showing the deection' drilling apparatus just before it reaches its seated position within the core drill.

Fig. '7 is a vertical cross section showing the details o1 the driving element.

The present invention-is adapted to be used in connection with that typeof coring apparatus commonly known as wire line coring equipment. In this type o1' apparatus, the core bit iha'ving blades 2 is secured to the lower end of the drill collar 3 either with a reamer 4 positioned between the core bit and the drill collar or with the bit secured directly to the .drill collar, as shown in Fig. 5.

The upper end of the drilly collar is connected by means of a driver sub 5 to the tool joint 6 which is mounted on the lower end of the lowest 'section of drill pipe '1. The reamer l may be o1' any suitable .type and may or may not be used depending upon the circumstances of the particular case. In the form illustrated, this reamer is provided with substantially vertical roller cutters 8 mounted at spaced points about itscircumference and having threaded connection between its upper and lower ends for engagement with the core bit and the drill collar respectively.

The drill collar 3 has within its upper end a driver 9 in the form of a sleeve which is carried by the lower end of the driver sub 5. This driver is provided with a notch I and the lower end of this notch is formed with divergent sides II inclined toward the notch I0 so as to guide an upwardly moving member into the notch.

In Figs. 1 and 2 a core barrel I2 isshown in place, this core barrel having a fitting I3 on its lower end with a shoulder I4 adapted to seat on a slush ring I5 mounted in the core bit. The lower end of the fitting I3 is threaded to receive the core cutter head I6 and carried within this core cutter head and clamped in place by the tting I3 is a core catcher I1.

Mounted on the upper end of the core barrel is any suitable type of upwardly opening check valve I8, the same in this instance being mounted in a spring body I9, the major portion oi. which is of reduced diameter to receive a compression coil spring 20. The upper end portion of this spring body is formed with key-ways 2|- adapted to receive the sliding keys 22 carried by the slip joint 23. The slip joint 23 is carried in the lower end of the sleeve 24, the upper end of which is secured to the carrier body 25. Holes 26 are provided in the sleeve to permit the inilow and outilow of uid as the spring 20 is expended or compressed.

'I'he carrier body is slotted above its lower end to receive al latching dog 21, which is spring pressed in a radially outward direction by means of a spring 28 to engage beneath the lower end of the driver 9 and when moved upwardly to t in the slot I0. This dog may be retracted by means of a pull bar 29 which is slidably mounted in the upper end oi. the carrier body and has a pin 30 engaging a slot 3l in the dog. The upper end of the pull bar is provided with a spear head 32 to receive an overshot which is lowered on a wire line to withdraw the core barrel from the core bit.

When drilling is going on without any core being taken the cutter head I6 is replaced with a center bit which cuts the center of the bottom of the hole;

It will be appreciated that the core barrel is placed in the core bit by simply dropping it into the upper end of the drill stem and pumping it down until it latches in place. It is removed by lowering an overshot or cable or wire line, which overshot engages the spear head 32 and the core barrel is then pulled out by withdrawing the cable.

Referring to Fig. 3 there is shown in place in l the core bit a device which projects beyond its lower end and carries a surveying instrument 33 of any Well known type, which is adapted to make a record of the inclination of the bit as it rests in the hole, as Well as the orientation or rotary position of the bit in the hole. Such surveying instrument is, of course, brought into a fixed orientation with respect to the bit by means oi' a latching dog like that used on the core barrel above described, which dog is forced into the notch I0 to rotate the instrument into proper position in the bit. Either at this time, or before the instrument is dropped into the drill stem, the drill stem is neutralized in order to remove rotary strains which exist in the drill pipe. That is to say, during ordinary drilling the drill pipe will actually take on a twist amounting to several revolutions' between the top and the bottom. This twist is substantially removed by rotating the drilling stem several revolutions, rst to the right, then .to the left in succession and gradually decreasing the amount of each rotation until a neutral position is reached.

The surveying instrument is then caused to make its record and this record when the instrument is removed will show the position of the core bit in the hole, both with respect to the vertical and with respect to the north and south or some other reference point or points.

After the position of the bit has been determined, the drill stem is rotated in order to place the bit in proper orientation with respect to the direction in which it is desired to deflect a hole. For convenience the bit is usually rotated until lthe notch I0 faces in the direction desired. After this rotation, it is desirable that the drill stem again be neutralized in the manner above described so that there will be substantially no twist in the drill stem and the operator may be sure of the position of the bit. This process is repeated until the bit is found to be in the proper position after the pipe is` neutralized. While reference has been made to rotating the bit a desired amount, it will be understood that the thing to be properly oriented is the notch in the driver rather than the bit. The bit has been referred to because ordinarily it willnot change its relation with respect to the notch in the driver.

After the bit and the notch in the driver have been placed in the desired oriented position, there is then dropped into the drill stem a device illustrated in Figs. 4, 5 and 6. This device has a latching mechanism at its upper end which is similarl to that shown in Fig. 1, diiering only in the form shown in that the lower end of the carrier body 34 is formed with a. socket for the reception of the upper end of a spring 35. 'Ihis spring 35 surrounds a loose sleeve 35, the purpose of which is to limit the travel of the spring, and the spring is disposed within a sleeve 31 which is connected with the carrier body 34 at its upper end and with the slip joint 38 at its lower end. Slidable within this slip joint 38 is a packer body 39 which has key ways 40 in which keys 4I carried by the slip joint are adapted rto slide. The upper end of this packer body projects through the slipjoint and receives a nut 52 upon which` the lower end of the spring 35 is carried.

Surrounding the packer body is a packer 43 of rubber or similar resilient material, one of the ends of this packer bearing against a shoulder 44 carried by the packer body, and the other against a shoulder 45 carried by Ithe slip joint. It will be seen that when the packer body 39 is pushed upwardly it will compress the spring 35 until the sleeve 36 stops the movement, and this movement will at the same time cause the shortening and expansion of the packer 43.

Secured to the lower end of the packer body is a barrel 46, and this barrel is connected at its lower end with an adapter 41 which forms a, continuation thereof. 'I'he adapter 41 is provided with a downwardly facing shoulder 48 and with a reduced portion below the shoulder upon which is slidably carried a sleeve 49. The lower end of the adapter is provided with a collar 50, the lower end of which forms the socket portion of a. ball and socket joint. This lower end is adapted to receive a ball member 5I and is provided with openings 52 through which pins 53 may be inspherical seat on its lower end is threaded into the interior of the collar 50.

'I'he ball 5l has -a projection 56 on its upper side which is adapted to limit the swinging movement oi' the ball and socket joint, and on its lower side is a second projection 51 having a small drilling member or bit 58 on its lower end. This extension 51 is of relatively smaller diameter and has a spring 59 surrounding it and bearing against the upperend of the bit 58. The upper end of the spring 59 ,bears against a collar or ring '58 which is slidable on the extension 51 and is constantly held upwardly by the spring. The upper end of this ring is in the form illustrated and is beveled off at an angle to its axis so that when it is pushed upwardly it will cause the ball member to swing or turn in its socket until the extension 51 lies at an angle to the axis of the barrel 41 and the reamer of the device. The direction of this angle is xed by means of a key which is mounted in a key way partly in the extension 51 and-partly in the ring 60 so asv to prevent rotation of these parts. Inasmuch as the extension 51 cannot rotate with respect to the remainder of the device and the sleeve 50 cannot rotate on the extension 51, the extension 51 and the bit 58 -will always be inclined in the same direction with respect to the remainder of the device.

In operation, when the device just described is dropped into the drill stem, the sleeve I9 will be moved downwardly until it surrounds the upper portion of the assembly carrying the bit element 58 and bridges the ball and socket joint,

move downwardly to the position shown in Fig. 5,

whereupon the bit 58 will assume its inclined position as shown.

When the latch has been forced to enter the notch I0 in the driver, the bit assembly 58 will be inclined in the direction in which it has been determined that the hole will be deflected. The Y drill stem is then spudded or raised and lowered to' drive the bit 58 into the formation at theI bottom of the hole for an appreciable distance, after which rotation of the drill stem is begun. It will be seen that when this rotation begins, the bit 58 will act as a pilot and will lead the core bit 2 in the direction in which the bit 58 is originally inclined. During this rotation, the pilot bit 58 will rotate about its own axis and will be turned through the medium of the ball and socket universal joint described. As*I long as rotation continues, this bit will continue to lead the main bit in the direction of the original inclination. When i for round trips of the drill stem 'and the various other evils and difliculties encountered in the prior practices and with the prior art devices.

Having described our invention, we claim: 1. In a device for changing the direction of a drilled hole, a bit having a central opening therein, and a deflect-ing member adapted to be mounted in said centr-al opening in the bit and to project therefrom and engage the bottom of 'a drilled hole in advance of said bit to deflect said bit in 'a predetermined direction, said deecting member having a joint therein whereby the lower portion thereof may be deflected laterally toA engage the bottom of a drilled hole eccentrically with respect thereto.

2. In a device for changing the direction of a drilled hole, a core bit having a central opening therein adapted to receive a core barrel, and a deilecting member adapted to fit the central opening in said core bit and project therefrom and I engage the bottom of a drilled hole to deflect said core bit in a predetermined direction, said deflecting member `having its lower end mounted for universal lateral movement with respect to said core bit and adapted to engage the bottom of a. drilled hole in a position eccentric with respect thereto.

3. In a device for changing the 'direction'of a drilled hole, a core blt having a central opening therein adapted to receive a core barrel, and a' deflecting member adapted to fit the central opening in said core bit and project therefrom and engage the bottom of 'a drilled hole to deflect said core bit in a predetermined direction, said defiecting member having its lower end mounted for universal lateral movement with respect to said core bit and adapted to engage the bottom of a drilled hole" in a position eccentric with respect thereto, and drilling blades on the lower end of said defiecting member.

4. In a device for changing the direction of a drilled hole, a core bit having a central opening therein adapted to receive a core barrel to be dropped in through the upper end thereof and having means to receive a latch for latching said core barrel in place, and a deecting member adapted to t and to be dropped intoplace in said central opening in said bore bit and having a part adapted to project therefrom and engage the bottom of a drilled hole and another part adapted to engage said latch receiving means to latch said deflecting member in position, and means, for yieldingly urging the lower end of said defiecting member downwardly with respect to said core bit.

5. In a device for changing the direction of a drilled hole, a core bit having a central opening i therein adapted to receive a core barrel dropped into place from the upper end thereof, and a deecting member to t and to be dropped into the central opening in said core bit and to project therefrom and engage the bottom of a drilled hole to deect said core bit in a predetermined direction, said deiiecting member having a uid passageway therethrough adapted to discharge downwardly from the lower end thereof.

6. In a device-for changing the direction of a drilled hole, a core bit having a central opening therein adapted to receive a core barrel dropped into place from the upper end thereof, and a deilecting member to fit and to be dropped into the central opening in said core bit and to project therefrom and engage the bottom of a drilled hole to deilect said core bit in a predetermined direction, said deiecting member having a uid passageway therethrough adapted to discharge means for forming a seal about said deecting member within said central opening and below the entrance to said longitudinal fluid passageway when said deilecting member engages the lower end of the drilled hole, whereby uid pumped downwardly through said central opening will be deected into said fluid passageway.

, 7. In a device forchanging the direction of a drilled hole, a core bit having a central opening therein adapted to receivea core barrel dropped into place from the upper end thereof, and a deflecting member to t and to be dropped into the central opening in said core bit and to project therefrom and engage the bottom of a drilled hole to deflect said core bit in a. predetermined direction, said deflecting member having a fluid course therethrough adapted to discharge downwardly and at an angle from the lowerv end thereof, and a packer above the lower end of said Vdeflecting member for diverting fluid into said fluid passageway.

8. The method of deflecting a drilled hole which comprises orienting a wire line core bit assembly at the bottom of the drilled hole, dropping a deilecting apparatus into said core bit assembly to a position projecting beyond the lower end thereof, orienting said deilecting apparatus with respect to said core bit forcing the projecting part of said deflecting apparatus into the formation at the bottom of the drilled hole and into a position eccentric with respect to the bottom of the drilled hole, and continuing the drilling operation withv said projecting part of the deflecting apparatus leading said core bit in the desired direction.

9. The method of changing the direction of drilling in a drilled hole which comprises orienting a coring assembly adjacent the bottom of said drilled hole, dropping into said coring assembly a deflecting apparatus to a position projecting below said coring assembly, orienting said deecting apparatus with respect to said coring assembly and latching it therein, lowering said deiiecting apparatus into contact with the bottom ofthe hole and exerting force thereon, directing fluid against the bottom of the hole adjacent the lower end of -said deilecting apparatus to assistin forcing said deecting apparatus into the formation,'causing said deflecting apparatus to penetrate the formation and assume a position inclined toward the direction in which the drilling is to be deflected, Aand continuing the drilling operation with said 'deecting apparatus leading the core bit.

10. In a device for changing the direction of a drilled hole, a tool adapted to be carried by a drilling bit and project ahead of the bit to lead downwardly from the lower end thereof, and

the bit in a predetermined direction as the drilling proceeds, and a universal joint for connecting said tool to such drilling bit said universal joint including a ball and a socket member and pins for transmitting rotation from the socket member to the ball member, said ball member having on its upper side a projection to limit swinging movement of the said ball and socket members and having on its lower side said tool.

11. In a device for changing the direction oi a drilled hole, a tool adapted to be carried by a drilling bit and project ahead of the bit to lead the bit in a predetermined direction as the drillingrproceeds, universal joint means for connecting said tool to such bit, and means for preventing relative rotation of said tool with respect to such bit, whereby said tool may be deected in any direction with respect to such bit but will be caused to rotate with such bit said universal joint including a ball and a socket member and pins for transmitting rotation from the socket member to the ball member, said ball member having on its upper side a projection to limit swinging movement of the said ball and socket members and having on its lower side said tool.

12. In a device for changing the direction of a drilled hole, a bit having a central opening therein, and a deflecting member adapted to be mounted in and slide longitudinally within said central opening in the bit and to project therefrom and engage the bottom of a drilled hole in advance of said bi1; to .deflect said bit in a predetermined d1- rection, means for yieldingly urging said dei-lecting member toward its lowermost position with respect to said bit and means interconnecting said bit and said deilecting member to cause said deflecting member to rotate with said bit during the drilling operation.

13. In a device for changing the direction of a drilled hole, a drilling bit, a tool adapted to be carried by said drilling bit and project ahead of the bit to lead the bit in a predetermined direction as the drilling proceeds and a universal joint between said tool and said drilling bit for mounting said tool for universal lateral movement with respect to said bit, said universal joint including a ball and a socket member and pins for transmitting rotation from the socket member to the ball member, said ball member having on its upper side a projection to limit swinging movement of the said ball and socket members and having on its lower side said tool, whereby said tool may engage the bottom of a drilled hole in a position eccentric with respect to said bit and rotate about an axis at an angle to the axis o1' said drilling bit.

GEORGE L. SCO'I'I. WILEY B. NOBLE. 

